Magnetic Control Ring Popularity

[Capolini]

I just got my first modded light and it has a "Control Ring"

The OSTS TN31mb! I like the fact that I can go from Stand by to max with a simple turn! I walk my Siberian about 7 miles a day,,,around 4 at night. I am able to use one hand to turn the control ring. Max one notch to the left of Stand By and "Strobe" one notch to the Right of stand by. Strobe is VERY IMPORTANT TO ME!! It alerts what little amount of cars I see on these country dirt roads!

The torch is unbelievable! 470Kcd! I placed my girlfriend on the Putting Green[!] for verification as I ventured to the Tee!!! From 600 yards away I lit up Two of the Three 80' Norway Spruce trees behind the Green!

 

[KQL]

I am also a control ring fan. It's not so much that I need infinite levels, it's that I can adjust the light in both directions as needed. When walking at night, if my son runs ahead a bit, I can light his way by increasing power, when I catch up I can dial it back down. I also have a Zebralight, it's pretty nice, but to go from medium to high, you need to turn the light off and on again. To go from high to medium, you need to cycle through low first. Not the end of the world, but not very elegant and a bit annoying if you need to adjust the level every few minutes. Clickies that cycle in one direction are even worse. I've been eyeing the Eagletac mt-g2 light with the head rotating adjustment. You can go in either direction in power from any position, but your choices are 2000lum, 1000lum, 175lum and 28lum. Boy, there is a lot of difference between 175 and 1000 lumen. Seems like lights with 3-4 modes work great when the max is ~200lum, but when you start pushing 2-3k, those jumps become too big. At least Zebralight gives you 6 modes, 3 of which are customizable.

 

[AVService]

I am also a control ring fan. It's not so much that I need infinite levels, it's that I can adjust the light in both directions as needed. When walking at night, if my son runs ahead a bit, I can light his way by increasing power, when I catch up I can dial it back down. I also have a Zebralight, it's pretty nice, but to go from medium to high, you need to turn the light off and on again. To go from high to medium, you need to cycle through low first. Not the end of the world, but not very elegant and a bit annoying if you need to adjust the level every few minutes. Clickies that cycle in one direction are even worse. I've been eyeing the Eagletac mt-g2 light with the head rotating adjustment. You can go in either direction in power from any position, but your choices are 2000lum, 1000lum, 175lum and 28lum. Boy, there is a lot of difference between 175 and 1000 lumen. Seems like lights with 3-4 modes work great when the max is ~200lum, but when you start pushing 2-3k, those jumps become too big. At least Zebralight gives you 6 modes, 3 of which are customizable.

It turns out that the newest ZL interface does let you go directly to Medium from off!
I found this out the other day when my new H52 arrived and it is a welcome addition for sure.
The SC600II evidently does this too.

 

[recDNA]

I just got my first modded light and it has a "Control Ring"

The OSTS TN31mb! I like the fact that I can go from Stand by to max with a simple turn! I walk my Siberian about 7 miles a day,,,around 4 at night. I am able to use one hand to turn the control ring. Max one notch to the left of Stand By and "Strobe" one notch to the Right of stand by. Strobe is VERY IMPORTANT TO ME!! It alerts what little amount of cars I see on these country dirt roads!

The torch is unbelievable! 470Kcd! I placed my girlfriend on the Putting Green[!] for verification as I ventured to the Tee!!! From 600 yards away I lit up Two of the Three 80' Norway Spruce trees behind the Green!

How about a picture of the flashlight and a couple of beam shots?

Beamed from my Galaxy Note 3

 

[Capolini]

How about a picture of the flashlight and a couple of beam shots?

Beamed from my Galaxy Note 3

I could get you some pictures of it[it is a stock TN31 that is modded!!

I wish I had a camera capable of taking beam shots. I tried taking some last Saturday when I tested it on a Golf Course and they did not turn out.

Hopefully I can meet up with "Teej"[he lives an hour away] one day. I think he could take some. In fact he has the same torch but mine is the newer version[updated LED] and has about 60,000 more cd's than his!!

Check post # 666[!!] on this thread.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?350936-OSTS-TN31mb-Monster-Thrower

It is my amateur version of a simple test. In fact I am going back in a few minutes to that same Golf course and testing my TK75 which I am sure will reach 600 yards like my M3X did and of course the OSTS TN31mb. I am testing the TN31mb on level 3, 4 and 5 to see their potential!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

 

[f22shift]

i think everything was well discussed in this thread.

for me a magnetic control ring is fine because i use it for an EDC(recharge everyday). actually the v10r internals are pretty simple. it would have to be a circuit failure i think as it would run without a magnet.

i can reiterate that the efficiency is not up to par with the best but still better than store bought lights. i guess one can argue that you would use just the right amount of light therefore extending your runtime. my biggest problem is the runtime is guess work so if i really need a light, i will use a light with modes. then i would just calculate how much runtime i really need and bring the appropriate light to match.

but for edc, it's perfect because i want to dial in just the right amount of light i need. i don't want to advertise that i am a flashaholic haha.

 

[bluebonnet]

Like others, my U2 Ultra is reached for first. Great thread by the way.

 

[easilyled]

Personally, I still prefer the knob on my SPY 007 to the magnetic ring on my V10R.
Of course the SPY 007 is far more expensive, being one of the most labor-intensive custom lights.

I prefer the idea of 6 customizable positions with tactile detents and known current in each position. (In fact there are 24, since there are 4 independent Active "slots", each with six programmable knob positions)

I would also imagine that the very low "firefly" that the 007 is capable of being programmed to will be much more efficient and hence be able to be maintained far longer. The lack of efficiency of low levels in magnetic control rings has been discussed earlier in this thread.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

While I like infinitely-variable, I don't particularly think it's necessary. I'm not at all bought into the "perfect amount of light" argument -- I find that with my ring-based lights, I dial in what I think is the right amount of light, and then if I turn the ring to make it brighter or dimmer ... well, that's still the right amount of light. There's no perfect amount, and I'm just as well-served with a few well-placed positions. So, if I had to give up infinitely-variable for 5 well-spaced positions, as long as the 5-position interface had an extremely efficient low-low (which infinitely-variable lights never have), I'd choose that 5-position interface.

 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond]

Personally, I still prefer the knob on my SPY 007 to the magnetic ring on my V10R.
Of course the SPY 007 is far more expensive, being one of the most labor-intensive custom lights.

I prefer the idea of 6 customizable positions with tactile detents and known current in each position. (In fact there are 24, since there are 4 independent Active "slots", each with six programmable knob positions)

I would also imagine that the very low "firefly" that the 007 is capable of being programmed to will be much more efficient and hence be able to be maintained far longer. The lack of efficiency of low levels in magnetic control rings has been discussed earlier in this thread.

Daniel,

I do agree that the 6-levels on the Spy007 are a strong competition to the V10R ring. Unfortunately the Spy007 has processing overheads that diminish its low level efficiency as well. I've measured similar low level currents on the Spy lights as I have on the V10R.

The best analogy for those two lights would be a 6-speed tranny versus a CVT.

In practice the ring on the V10R still works better for me at times because of 1) the softer ramped transition between levels and 2) the ability to add or remove just a tiny bit of light as needed.

 

[easilyled]

Daniel,

I do agree that the 6-levels on the Spy007 are a strong competition to the V10R ring. Unfortunately the Spy007 has processing overheads that diminish its low level efficiency as well. I've measured similar low level currents on the Spy lights as I have on the V10R.

The best analogy for those two lights would be a 6-speed tranny versus a CVT.

In practice the ring on the V10R still works better for me at times because of 1) the softer ramped transition between levels and 2) the ability to add or remove just a tiny bit of light as needed.

Sean, thanks for the clarification regarding the efficiency of the 007s at low levels. I was obviously incorrect in my assumption that they would be more efficient from your measurements.

Did you test the STFu MK4 version used in the Tri-V2 and XM-L2s? I seem to recall reading from Dave (Data) that Wayne has improved the efficiency at lower levels in that version.

This is an excerpt from Dave's description of the STFu MK4 (in the Tri-V2 information thread):-

As you all know the Tri-V2 is similar to the original Tri-V. The big differences are the mark 4 version of the STFu converter board and the replacement of the MC-E with an XP-G emitter. Much has already been said about the emitter replacement but I will recap by saying that it makes the light much more rounded and makes for the practicality of running the flood and reflector at the same time, a feature that I have included in the default programming. The new converter board primarily came about due to the need of having greater fidelity in the current source circuitry. It now has a more stable output in the very low levels. But one of the other big advantages of the new Texas Instruments buck converter IC is increased efficiency.

 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond]

Daniel,

I actually had a newer 3.3A Spy007 XM-L2 on my bench a week or so back that I was swapping in a 5C1 tint. I didn't think to take any low current readings.

Although, I think what Dave is referring to is the stability of the current feed itself at lower currents. At settings under ~10mA I found there to be a tiny flicker in the Tri-V regardless of emitter selection. Using RCR123 cells over primaries appeared to help a bit but I did ask Dave about it. He said that due to available circuits at the time there was a small sacrifice in low current stability in order to be able to produce the higher levels in what was, IMO, a ground breaking driver.

I'll take some readings from my Tri-V2 and see how it looks.

Sorry for the off topic swing. I'm using my V10R Ti+ tonight and loving the fluidity of the infinite ring.

 

[Yoda4561]

A friend gifted me his XM-L2 V11R a few weeks ago, I've always thought the magnetic ring was the ultimate in variable output flashlight controls, and I can confirm I still hold that opinion after living with one for a while That said it's not for everyone, I got it because my friend couldn't stand the interface and had issues with the ring turning while it was in his pocket. I haven't run into that, but a control ring with a ball detent to make low and max more secure would be an improvement. Finding a way to get the control ring on the body would be nice too, I have it set up with the AA adapter and I have to make sure I crank the threads on both the head and adapter down tight to make sure that twisting the control ring doesn't result in loosening the head accidentally. All in all though a massive improvement for me in usability over multi-mode click to confuse interfaces.

 

[easilyled]

Daniel,

I actually had a newer 3.3A Spy007 XM-L2 on my bench a week or so back that I was swapping in a 5C1 tint. I didn't think to take any low current readings.

Although, I think what Dave is referring to is the stability of the current feed itself at lower currents. At settings under ~10mA I found there to be a tiny flicker in the Tri-V regardless of emitter selection. Using RCR123 cells over primaries appeared to help a bit but I did ask Dave about it. He said that due to available circuits at the time there was a small sacrifice in low current stability in order to be able to produce the higher levels in what was, IMO, a ground breaking driver.

I understand what you're saying Sean. However if you look at the next sentence after the one I highlighted in red, Dave also says that one of the other big advantages of the new Texas Instruments buck converter IC (in the STFu MK4) is increased efficiency. Presumably this is at all levels, including the lower levels?

I'll take some readings from my Tri-V2 and see how it looks.

That will be great. It will be interesting to see whether you observe increased efficiency as that would be a very strong incentive to migrate to the newer driver.

Sorry for the off topic swing. I'm using my V10R Ti+ tonight and loving the fluidity of the infinite ring.

Yes, sorry for that. I thought it would be interesting to compare the two as they are both viable alternatives for rotary change of levels. I love the magnetic ring on the SWM too and its great to have both. :thumbsup: